Real time design, development and delivery collaborative apparel solution digital platform

ABSTRACT

A real time design, development and delivery collaborative apparel solution digital platform is provided. The platform includes a virtual design library module, a technical designer network module, an eCAD module for facilitating design collaboration between a label owner and one or more approved designers, a production/distribution source network module, a collaborative web portal module for translating designs in a plurality of different CAD software applications to one or more of a plurality of unrelated production software applications, and a pre-production engineering resources module for facilitating the selection of pre-production engineers and engineering methods for various production processes.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is entitled to the benefit of, and claims priority to,U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/269,575, filed Feb.16, 2001, entitled “REAL TIME DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND DELIVERYCOLLABORATIVE APPAREL SOLUTION DIGITAL PLATFORM,” the entirety of whichis incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

1. Field of the Present Invention

The present invention relates generally to the field of designing andproducing sewn products, and, in particular, to a digital platform forrapid product innovation and deployment of sewn products.

2. Background Art

A need exists for a digital platform for more efficiently bringing sewnproducts to market. This need is driven by three market factors. First,the textile industry lags behind other industries in adopting Internettools to achieve supply-chain integration advantages. As reported inTextile World, the industry has experienced over-investment the past tenyears in plants and machinery; under-investment in information systems,supplier/customer partnerships and strategic alliances; and productinnovation; and slow response to growing global market opportunities.

Second, current solutions to these problems are inadequate. The currentgeneration of e-commerce solutions consists mostly of trading exchangesfor procurement of raw materials, components and finished goods. Currentsolutions typically only address order processing and tracking. Examplesinclude ecomtextile.com and fasturn.com. While these solutions couldpotentially improve the cost of goods, this area has largely beenaddressed by offshore sourcing, and does not significantly addressreducing operating cost. In turn, offshore sourcing has severelyhampered the industry's ability to respond to today's rapidly changingmarkets.

Third, the current e-commerce model is inadequate. One provider ofnext-generation e-commerce tools, lectra.com, is a European companypursuing a traditional software business model. This approach wouldrequire that the U.S. apparel industry dramatically change course, toinvest significant resources in systems, software, training, and productdesign talent. In fact, the strong trend is to neglect the productdesign and product management functions, challenging the existence oftraditional players and fostering emerging start-up brands.

As a result of these factors, the industry has two choices—to investsignificant dollars and resources in existing and emerging tools that donot address the real need. As a result, a need exists for an innovativedigital platform which will provide value added fashion styling andtechnology solutions to enable rapid, cost-effective and collaborativeproduct design and delivery.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

Briefly summarized, the present invention relates to a “real time”,digital platform solution for collaborative Design, Development andDelivery of apparel for designers, manufacturers and retailers. Theplatform will serve as the “go to” resource for all apparel label ownersand their partners that seek innovative fashion styling and new,web-based solutions for developing products quickly and collaboratively.To accomplish this, the entire product life cycle is “web-enabled.”

With this collaborative solution, the ability has been created inconcept to provide all of the products and services needed to integratethe industry electronically—from manufacturer to consumer—into oneinteroperable and collaborative digital platform. The ultimate goal isto offer outsourced collaborative solutions for user friendly,digitization of the whole product life cycle—from concept and designthrough electronic merchandising and distribution.

The present invention will serve as an Application Service Provider(ASP), providing solutions that can:

significantly reduce time and cost to market by up to 300%

enable designers, retailers and manufacturers to focus on their corebusiness, not on costly and resource-intensive technology developmentand support, and

revitalize the U.S. textile/apparel industry though efficiencies andcoordination of scarce and dispersed talent.

Typical delivery lead times from the larger, more established brands is4 to 8 months due to a layered product management hierarchy and offshore production sourcing. The digital platform, which will enablecomplete collection design and delivery in less than 3 months and asquick as 3 days, plans to utilize primarily domestic sourcing and asingular layer, fully Integrated Product Team (IPT), with membershipfrom enterprise partners as well as the client. Such rapid productioncycles will enable label owners to lower costs of development, tointegrate design/development resources into one central location, tominimize managerial hierarchies and to utilize domestic sources ofproduction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further features, embodiments, and advantages of the present inventionwill become apparent from the following detailed description withreference to the drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the product information and processflow for a real time design, development and delivery collaborativeapparel solution digital platform in accordance with the preferredembodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the collaborative apparel solution (“CAS”) ofthe present invention is a collaborative platform of digital solutionofferings, including a Virtual Design Library (VDL) built with CADsolution technology. The VDL will serve as a digital resource ofconsistently updated style concepts and design portfolios, and inputfrom the portal's network of creative designers and merchandisers.Consumer needs are at the center of this product solutions strategy forprivate labelers. Thus, domestic production becomes the advantage due tothe requirement for shortened product cycles, possibly leading to anupturn in domestically sourced apparel/textiles.

The CAS platform of solutions enables a low cost product deploymentstrategy due to a high tech approach. Electronic data gathered at thepoint of purchase forms the basis for product planning and design.Product planning and design is based on continually updated marketintelligence. The ultimate strength of the solution is not verticalintegration, but in virtual integration of the industries' network ofdesigners, suppliers, and retailers at one focal point. The goal issimple—to automate the product life cycle using web technology.

To respond to specific market needs, the solution shall provide astandard platform for:

Integrated computer aided design and merchandising system (CAD/CAM)

A detailed costing module to identify and implement necessary priceincreases to insure profitability

A sophisticated WEB site and additional electronic commerce capabilitiesthat includes a new electronic sales/distribution channel technologywith “real time” collaborative design capabilities

An electronic data interchange (EDI) distribution/logistics serversystem

Integration of a virtual warehouse inventory tracking program andproduct data management (PDM) system

The portal will integrate modules to automate the product life cycle andto enable marketplace collaboration:

1. Product concepting, design, and pre-production engineering

2. Quality and process control

3. Procurement

4. Project management/tracking

5. Production

6. Distribution

7. Electronic merchandising & sales

8. Source Facilities

Modules implementing these processes are more fully describedhereinbelow.

The Proprietary Virtual Design Library and Technical Designer NetworkModules

The first two modules are the “Proprietary Virtual Design Library”module and the “Technical Designer Network” module. Completed designsare housed on the Platform in a digital design library (with accesssecurity) which will allow label owners to access their designs anytimeanywhere. Additionally, private designers will be able to post theirunique designs in the library for label owners to view and purchase.Since finished designs will reside on the platform, the additional addedvalue to designers will be that “knock offs” will be policed bycomparing the digital design specifications and digital signatures ofcurrent library designs against the newly posted designs. Furthermore,designers will have access to “public” base designs which may be used asa starting point for their new concept or to test the new concept onvarying styles.

The Technical Designer Network module will be implemented concurrentwith the Proprietary Virtual Design Library and will expand the networkof designers available by allowing any designer to enter thecollaborative platform and do work for a monthly access fee. It isimportant to note that since a private label owners' designs will resideon the network, security measures will be implemented to ensure thatonly designers approved by the label owner will have access toindividual designs and vice versa.

The eCAD and Production/Distribution Source Network Modules

The second two modules are the “eCAD” application and theProduction/Distribution Source Network Modules. The eCAD module allows alabel owner to collaborate on their collection in real time withapproved designers located any where in the world using any of theavailable CAD software applications currently on the market. This workhas traditionally been done through original artwork that is reworked byhand until the finished design is completed in an extremely timeconsuming process. Only recently has the industry moved toward digitaldesign. And while designers have embraced the technology, collaborativedesign efforts have been severely limited by each designer's use ofunique software and individual computers that were not or could not beconnected. Even when connected, “collaboration” required the trading ofextremely large CAD files among designers using exactly the samesoftware. The CAS Platform will eliminate the need to trade files or touse exactly the same software as all collaborative work will occur onthe Platform.

After a design is finalized, suppliers must be found to produce thefashions. The Production/Distribution Source Network module is utilizedalong with the eCAD” application in order to fill this function.

The Collaborative Web Portal and Pre-Production Engineering ResourcesModules

The third two modules are perhaps the most exciting of the CAS Platformas a network is created to allow the final approved designs and productspecifications to be sent digitally to suppliers for production. Thisrequires two final pieces of integration. First, the collaborative webportal will allow designs created in the various CAD software to beunderstood by the separate and currently unrelated production software.In this way, pre-production engineering specifications can be applied toa design which will allow that design to be produced by the selectedsupplier on his machinery. In other words, just as the earlier modulesallow designers using separate software to collaborate, thecollaborative web portal allows finished designs and manufacturinginstructions on CAD to “collaborate” with suppliers for quicker and moreaccurate production. The pre-production engineering resources modulewill offer a way to pick from various pre-production engineers andengineering methods to collaborate and expedite the final pre-productionapprovals for the various production processes.

CAS Platform Support

The CAS Platform will further distinguish itself and establish itself asthe Industry Standard for original design and pre-production developmentby providing a creative and execution support staff for each module whowill be able to facilitate activity within that module. This service isintended to ease the transition to the platform by reducing the fear ofdesigners, label owners, and suppliers in the transition to digitalcollaborative design and development.

Revenue Model

The Platform owner may generate and receive revenue from the CASPlatform in two distinct ways. First, access to the platform may belimited to designers, label owners and suppliers who pay a monthly feefor access. A separate fee may be required for each module. In this wayindividuals may pay to access only the modules in which they operate.These fees are designed to maintain the platform on an ongoing basis andto support research and development of continuing improvements to theplatform. Second, a fee or commission will be applied to “Sales”occurring on the Platform. For example, the RTD3 CAS platform ownerwould take a fee for the sale of a private designer's design to a labelowner. Also a commission could be charged for every piece producedthrough the platform. Finally, fees would be charged for platformsupport staff to lead a design through any module of the platform. Alabel owner new to the platform might pay the platform owner to quicklymove their designs through the platform while they learn how the processworks. it will therefore be readily understood by those persons skilledin the art that the present invention is susceptible of broad utilityand application. Many embodiments and adaptations of the presentinvention other than those herein described, as well as many variations,modifications and equivalent arrangements, will be apparent from orreasonably suggested by the present invention and the foregoingdescription thereof, without departing from the substance or scope ofthe present invention. Accordingly, while the present invention has beendescribed herein in detail in relation to its preferred embodiments, itis to be understood that this disclosure is only illustrative andexemplary of the present invention and is made merely for purposes ofproviding a full and enabling disclosure of the invention. The foregoingdisclosure is not intended or to be construed to limit the presentinvention or otherwise to exclude any such other embodiments,adaptations, variations, modifications and equivalent arrangements, thepresent invention being limited only by the claims appended hereto andthe equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A real time design, development and deliverycollaborative apparel solution digital platform comprising: a virtualdesign library module; a technical designer network module; an eCADmodule for facilitating design collaboration between a label owner andone or more approved designers; a production/distribution source networkmodule; a collaborative web portal module for translating designs in aplurality of different CAD software applications to one or more of aplurality of unrelated production software applications; and apre-production engineering resources module for facilitating theselection of pre-production engineers and engineering methods forvarious production processes.